4 ms·
Just adding to this for the uninitiated-but-curious: the German army invaded by going around the line. This meant taking tanks through the Ardennes, a bordering
by jmcomets 4y ago
Just adding to this for the uninitiated-but-curious: the German army invaded by going around the line. This meant taking tanks through the Ardennes, a bordering region consisting of mountains and forests, not quite the Panzer's ideal terrain...
Nowadays it's still used as a French expression to describe a "seemingly impassable defense that's useless in the end".
- iso1631 4y agoOne thing I read recently said one of the aims of the maginot line was to delay the Germans (it did -- they had to go through NL/BE), and another was to ensure they went through BE and thus brought the British in to the fight (due to a UK/BE defence guarantee). It did that too.
- dmichulke 4y agoI think the British also guaranteed Poland, so they we're already in in September '39
- breischl 4y agoBut when the line was conceived and built, they couldn't have known Germany would invade Poland first.
- mrguyorama 4y agoWasn't that that "Quiet war" ie, both france and great britain had guaranteed poland, and declared war, but didn't actually push out troops or really do anything until france was invaded?
- goodcanadian 4y agoPhoney War. War was declared, but no real fighting was going on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War